The snowy swans upon

the shining streams

Form their sweet residence ;

And seem in warbling to the wind to say

"Here let those rest who wish for perfect joy!

So that, my dear companion,

To walk with me will please thee.

Eve. So well thy language to my sight has brought

What thou desir'st to shew me,

I see thy flying river, as it sports,
And hear it, as it murmurs:

And beauteous also is this scene, where now

Pleas'd we sojourn, and here perhaps e'en here

The lily whitens with the purest lustre,
And the rose reddens with the richest hue.
Here also bath'd in dew
Plants of minutest growth
Are painted all with flow'rs.
Here trees of amplest leaf
Extend their rival shades

And stately rise to heaven.

Adam. Now by these cooling shades,

The beauty of these plants,

By these delightful meadows,

These variegated flow'rs,

By the soft musick of the rills, and birds,

Let us sit down in joy!

Eve. Behold then I am seated!

How I rejoice in viewing not alone

These flow'rs, these herbs, these high and graceful

plants.

But Adam, Thou, my lover,

Thou, thou art he, by whom the meadows seem

More beautiful to me,

The fruit more blooming, and the streams more clear.

Adam. The decorated fields

With all their flowery tribute cannot equal

Those lovelier flow'rs, that with delight 1 view

In the fair garden of your beauteous face.

Be pacified, you flowers,

My words are not untrue;

You shine besprinkled with etherial dew,
You give the humble earth to glow with joy
At one bright sparkle of the blazing Sun;
But with the falling sun ye also fall:
But these more living flow'rs

Of my dear beauteous Eve
Seem freshen'd every hour
By soft devotion's dew,

That she with pleasure sheds
Praising her mighty Maker:

And by the rays of two terrestrial suns
In that pure Heav'n, her face,

They rise, and not to fall,

Decking the Paradise

Of an enchanting visage.

Eve. DearAdam, do not seek

With tuneful eloquence

To sooth my ear by speaking of thy love!

The heart is confident,

That fondly flames with pure and hallow'd ardour.
In sweet exchange accept, my gentle love,

This vermeil-tinctur'd gift, you know it well;
This is the fruit forbidden,

This is the blessed apple.

Adam. Alas! what see I! ah! what hast thou done, Invader of the fruit,

Forbidden by thy God!

Eve. It would be long to tell thee

The reason that induc'd me

To make this fruit my prey: let it suffice

I gain'd thee wings to raise thy flight to Heav'n.

Adam. Ne'er be it true, ah never

That to obtain thy favour

I prove to Heav'n rebellious and ungrateful,
And to obey a woman,

So disobey my Maker, and my God!

Then did not death denounc'd

With terrors icy paleness blanch thy cheek?

Eve. And think'st thou, if the apple

Were but the food of death,

The great producer would have rais'd it there,

Where being is eternal?

Thinkst thou, that if of error

This fruit-tree were the cause,
In man's delighted eye

So fertile, and so fair,

He would have form'd it flourishing in air ! Ah were it so he would indeed have given A cause of high offence,

Since nature has ordain'd

(A monitress sagacious)

That to support his being, man must eat,

And trust in what looks fair, as just and good.

Adam. If the celestial tiller,

Who the fair face of Heav'n

Has thickly sown with stars,

Amidst so many plants, fruitful and fair,

Plac'd the forbidden apple,

The fairest, and most sweet;

Twas to make proof of man

As a wise keeper of his heav'nly law;
And to afford him scope for high desert,
For he alone may gain the name of brave,
Who rules himself, and all his own desires.

Man might indeed find some excuse for sin,
If scantily with fruits

This garden were supplied;

But this abounding in so many sweets

Man ought not to renounce

The clear command of Heav'n.

Eve. And is it thus you love me?

Ne'er be it true, ah never,

That I address you as my heart, my life!
From you I'll only wander

Bath'd in my tears, and sighing,

And hating e'en myself,

I'll hide me from the sun.

Adam. Dear Eve! my sweetest love!

My spirit and my heart!

Oh haste to dry thine eyes,

For mine are all these tears,

That bathe thy cheek, and stream upon thy bosom.

Eve. Ah my unhappy state!

I that so much have said, so much have done
To elevate this man

Above the highest Heav'n, and now so little

Can he or trust, or love me?

Adum. Ah do not grieve, my life,

Too much it wounds my soul

To see thee in affliction.

Eve. I know your sole desire

Is to be witness to my sighs, and tears:
Hence to the winds, and seas,

I pay this bitter tribute.

Adam. Alas! my heart is splitting : What can I do? when I look up to heav'n,

I feel an icy tremor

E'en to my bones oppress me,

Anxious alone to guard the Heav'nly precept: